Is there something going on with Google’s FireFox page? It’s very on and off today. Co-workers are seeing the same behavior. The requested URL /firefox?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official was not found on this server.
Quote of the Day: “Most men would rather die, than think. Many do.” -Bertrand Russell
I was given an assigment to spend three days living 100% honestly. No fibs, no exaggerating, no cheating, no stealing. The following are my thoughts:
The last three days have been a challenge. Not because it was hard to stop telling lies. Not because it was hard to stop breaking the law. It was hard to consciously realize I was even committing these dishonest acts. Going into this ?challenge? I figured I?d simply watch my words and make sure I let that certain someone know that she did indeed look fat in those jeans. In reality, it wasn?t until maybe five, ten minutes after being dishonest that I even realized it. I tried hard, I really did. But, far more effort is required to establish a new habit than that which is necessary to revert back to the established ones. In other words, it was much harder to even realize I was speeding and breaking the law than it was to drive my typical style at my natural speed (nearly ten over). And that was just day one?
I started out the first morning letting people near me know that I was going to be completely honest for the next three days. This was greeted with ?does that mean I can ask you anything? type questions. Naturally I informed them that this was the case because being dishonest also includes withholding information. Some questions were a bit embarrassing but luckily the novelty quickly wore off. I figured that this was going to be the extent of my three-day period. I was sadly mistaken. As I went throughout my day I noticed there were plenty of opportunities to stretch the truth and exaggerate, but I consciously chose not to. For example, when telling a story about the weekend an opportunity presented itself more than once. I realized, though, that this act is considered ?dishonest?.
As the days went on I realized I was more and more ?dishonest? in everyday interactions. For instance, I sometimes like to shrug off conversations and dismiss ?How are you?? with ?fine? and ?What?s new?? with ?not much?. But, after the first few conversations I realized these were all dishonest answers. In fact, funny as it may be, I started having some more fulfilling chats with friends. I actually had to come up with a response and tell people about my day. In some cases it was pretty rewarding.
As far as driving was concerned though, this was my weakest area. I couldn?t help but get in the fast lane every time I drove to Boulder. Once I was in it I realized the flow was moving around 70 to 75 (especially down the hill). It always took a minute to realize what I was doing and that I should slow down. Even if this meant an additional minute or two would pass before I arrived at my destination. I learned, though, that the time spent breaking the law (by speeding) was hardly worth it. The extra minute or two on the road meant safer driving conditions and an extra song for me to listen to.
On the third day a number of people were asking me if I was going to a mutual friend?s house that evening. I replied that I simply had stuff to do at home. I even said I was going to stick around and hang out with my roommates. I felt guilty. I just didn?t want to go out at the time. I didn?t want to be honest about this fact though. I ended up willingly being dishonest. I just couldn?t bring myself to outwardly telling someone I didn?t want to enjoy their company. Truth be told, that?s usually not the case. In general, I really enjoy being with people. It just so happens that, due to a number of things, I didn?t feel like being very social. That seemed very hard to explain at the time. I gave in though.
After the second phone call I decided I needed to go see my friends that evening. I went out, saw everyone, and spent a few hours in Boulder; it was refreshing. Yet, when people asked if I was having fun, it was hard to give a straight answer. If I say ?no? they then ask ?why?? and ?what?s wrong?? but if I simply say ?yes? I?m being dishonest to merely avoid a barrage of follow-up questions.
I?ve read that it takes something like a month for a new habit to become permanent. I?m willing to try this for as long as I can. If anything I?ll become even more aware of how I interact with people and society. Even if I still speed a little in the fast lane I feel that I can still lead an honest life. Despite some ?white lies?, I feel that, in some cases, being dishonest is the lesser of two evils. As I mentioned, there could be dozens of cases where I didn?t even realize I was being dishonest. Many times I stopped and realized that what I had said earlier was exactly what I was supposed to be avoiding. This is no simple task.
I think I do a lot of these dishonest things because I feel they hurt no one else. This may or may not be true. What if one night I decide I don?t want to hang out with my friends or my family because I?m preoccupied with something else? In that case I tell a harmless lie, say I?m sick, and leave early. It?s my loss. From there I decide to drive home in the fast lane on highway 36. Again, I?m being dishonest and breaking the law but hurting no one but myself.
Well, I didn?t hurt anyone until the guy in front of me suddenly has stops and I have no where to else to go but (very quickly) straight into him. Suppose that?s the end of me. Who lives did those lies just touch?
I realize this example is beyond extreme. But, despite the difficulty, I?ve realized it?s best to be honest in everything I say and do. I also realize being candid about this demonstrates the fact that, yes: I live a somewhat dishonest life. Unfortunately, when I keep things from people or mislead them they have a reason to stop trusting me. Luckily, they don?t necessarily know it (yet). To me, trust is important and I plan to avoid doing anything that would jeopardize it.
In reality, how honest are you?
[tags]college, personal, improvement, honesty, trust, lying[/tags]
Crash got the Oscar. Like I said earlier: rightfully so.
Reason #293 why Myspace is Pure Crap: “This user’s comments are currently disabled. They will be back shortly. Please do NOT email me about this. Just wait it out. -Tom” …oh, Tom. We’re soo not friends anymore. I could also title this post “Thing #28374 You Would Never See on Facebook”.
Here’s a video put together, by real actors, to mimic the opening scene from The Simpsons. Almost as fun as Matisyahu…
Just reading this post enrages me. Google isn’t ugly. It’s simple. Craigslist isn’t ugly, it’s content-rich. Purple backgrounds with yellow text on Myspace? That’s ugly. I will agree though, who cares what a blog looks like? You can’t see my pretty header in Bloglines. Blogs are about the content. Don’t judge a book by it’s cover… well, unless that book is Myspace. In that case you’d be right.
If you’ve never heard the reggae style of hasidic rapper Matisyahu, you’re missing out. Here’s his latest music video. Very cool!
I’m going to be brutally honest, today. I’ll begin by saying the situation in Africa sucks. The world has, for the most part, ignored the entire continent. Well, except maybe for South Africa. I hear they have diamonds…
I wish we could do a better job -not just as a nation, but as a world- to help the people in Africa. Sure, there are some great people visiting Africa and helping out. I know people who’ve gone on mission trips. I know people who’ve supported entire businesses through groups like Kiva. There are a bunch of people doing a bunch of good. The problem is, Africa needs more than a bunch.
Sure, events like Live 8 are nice, but essentially useless. People like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are hardly doing anything. All these things do is put celebrities in the spotlight. Awareness slightly increases but, in the end, the media focuses on the celebrity rather than the cause.
I’m not trying to discount the fact that these people are helping and doing what they can. My only problem is that they’re really not enough help to make the necessary change. Searching around a bit shows that the government probably spends a billion dollars a day on our military. It could be a bit more, or even a bit less. It doesn’t matter. When you search for ‘bush africa aid’ online you find contributions from the Bush Administration to be something like $_____ million. In total, the programs may add to up a billion or more, but we’re spending that much every day on the military.
Africa has obviously been ‘marketing’ itself the wrong way to the wrong people and the wrong emotional appeals. Africa tries to play the guilt card: don’t ignore us, you’re better than that. Africa appeals to principle: it’s the right thing to do. Obviously we’re not interested in hearing this so we ignore it. We need to turn it around into a values appeal. We need to do it because we want to. But we don’t. So we need to do it because we have to (fix a personal problem).
So, to be frank: a terrorist group needs to emerge from Africa. Please bear with me. Nothing seems to get through to this country unless it attacks our “freedom”. Side note: a recent poll found Americans can name more judges on American Idol than rights given to us by the Constitution. Perhaps I should rephrase: nothing seems to get through to this country unless it attacks our pride. If anything is to be done it needs a lot of attention. In order to draw attention it apparently needs to be something the military can solve.
History supports this notion.
We went to Afghanistan didn’t we? Couldn’t pre-9/11 Afghanistan be compared to Africa? We had no true interests there. Nothing was really a threat. We had no business to be there. We all saw how quickly that changed. What about Iraq? Africa seems like the place that really needs “democracy” and “rebuilding” the most. Hell, there’s nothing really to “rebuild”, it’s just plain “building”. Something as simple as bringing in plows would do them a world of good. On top of that, I bet there’d be little-to-no resistance…
So, is there a way to equate terror with countries lacking food and water? In other words, can we convince the nation-nay, the world-that starving countries want to crash busses into financial districts becuase they have no water? If so, problem solved. People take one look and say “I’ve got an idea, help them grow food so they’ll leave us alone”. Brilliant. I submit the most effective way to get someone like President Bush’s attention is through terror. The world looks to us. If we start, everyone else will follow.
I’m so glad the answer is this simple…
[tags]africa, aid, support, poverty, military, terror[/tags]
I decided to get somewhat ambitious, as you may have noticed, and went through all my finances. I decided it was time to see what the wonderful world of Quicken was like. I must say, it’s a very pretty world.
Using 2006 Deluxe has been a pleasure so far. It’s much more, me-oriented than Microsoft Money. When I started using this software my first reaction was “Microsoft has made some pretty lazy software”. Quicken greeted me with the ability to set goals. I told it I would like to:
Manage my checkbook and billsIn hindsight I don’t know if I really wanted to know the last one. It’s slightly disappointing. In any case, once the goals are set it walks you through setting up your accounts. The ‘Direct Connect’ feature seems a million times more functional than Money’s. It tells me more than ‘Error’ when and if there’s an issue. Money just sits with a turning wheel while something, unbeknownst to me, goes on in the background.
Once I had my accounts neatly setup and downloaded, I unfortunately had to go through and setup the categorization/memorized payees. Quicken doesn’t download QIF data anymore because it’s, apparently, an outdated standard used for troubleshooting; not downloading transactions. I didn’t mind, though. It allowed me to make sure there was consistency throughout hundreds of transactions.
Some things I really like include:
Account Bar: it’s always on the screen, tells me my account values and lets me quickly switch between them.
GUI: Microsoft’s blue is nice, but the subtle shadows make this a very attractive program. The graphs are pretty, the tabs are intuitive. It looks good and that’s important.Obviously I’m enjoying playing around with my new program. I know I wrote about using Money to track your money. After two days I’d recommend Quicken to anyone out there looking for a very nice personal finance program.
[tags]money, finance, personal, software, review[/tags]